Popcorn Brain

I knew it!  I knew there was a good reason that we've strayed from the blogging!  We have been avoiding "popcorn brain"!  New evidence suggests that too much internetting (blogging, facebooking, twittering, etc.) actually causes a change in our brain structure!  Yikes!  It is time for another internet fast!  We unplugged about a year ago, a very cleansing experience. 

Back on the boat, this year's nest of finches have almost grown up.  We will be cleaning up the poop this weekend.  We are preparing for our annual 4th of July party.  We will be watching the fireworks show from the boat again.  There are other mindless updates I could give you, but basically, life goes on.

New Year's Resolve

Thankfully the rain has stopped for a while.  We pulled Lil' Wheels out of the water and dried her off!  She is none the worse for wear!  We are working on her mast, boom, and standing rigging.  Her dinghy-days are numbered and we are looking forward to day-sailing days!

We've been posting for a whole year now.  Things have been winding down in boat-land.  The big repairs are done and now it is just maintenance...sanding, repainting, refinishing, blah blah blah.  And, quite frankly, I wonder if it is enough to sustain a blog.

Life marches on.  Happy New Year!  2011 will be a great year!
What new resolutions lie ahead?

Blogging and Writing

I have to give you the update: the aftermath of the Cuesta College Writer's Conference!  I was thoroughly encouraged and stimulated to hone my craft.  The criticism was also there.  Writing with the intention of getting published is not for the faint of heart.  Writing in my journal is easy.  Writing a nonfiction book proposal is a bit more intimidating!

At the Conference, I had the good luck to attend Stephen Blake Mettee's seminar "How to Publish Non-fiction" which was really an hour and half long soapbox hard sell for his brilliant book How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal.  I promptly went to the bookstore and bought it.

Also, have secured a writing crtique group--partner, rather--with the intent on serious writing and serious constructive feedback.  All of this is TOP SECRET, of course!  I can't tell you what I'm writing, who I'm writing with, or when I'll ever be done.  But, I can tell you that it doesn't have anything to do with sailing!

Cheers!
~First Mate

26th Annual Writer's Conference at Cuesta College

I attended the 26th Annual Writer's Conference at Cuesta College this weekend!  As you know, Truman and I were signed up for the conference together, but he is currently preoccupied!  I was so excited about this conference!  This was my first ever Writer's Conference.  It was very conveniently located in the Central Coast, only 15 miles from my home.  Now, I am committed to return every year!  It was an amazing experience.  There were 300 attendees and 25 faculty members.  Judy, the Conference coordinator, was absolutely amazing and she is also a member of the yacht club!

Conference Organizer Extraordinairre Judy Salamacha (in red)!



Registration desks are buzzing!



The main auditorium is filling up for the Keynote speaker.



The Faculty!  Wonderful writers, agents, editors, publishers! What a treat!

The three most memorable faculty members for me were Melissa Pritchard, Paula Huston, and Jon James Miller.  I was most fascinated with Paula Huston, a spiritual writer, also an oblate with a contemplative monastic community in Big Sur. 

Reading Eat, Pray, Love about Gilbert's time at an ashram and hearing from Paula Huston tell how she goes on two-day retreats every 6 weeks at the hermitage made me want to feel a little of that peacefulness.  I may have to go on retreat!  Having the house to myself is a kind of like a retreat.  More likely than not, I have a hidden little nun inside of me just waiting to get out!

Update: S/V Go For Broke, Honolulu to Kauai

Our beloved Go For Broke Captain and Crew are enroute from Honolulu to Kauai.  This shake down cruise will reveal any weak spots on the boat.  They can make repairs in Kauai before setting out across the Pacific. 

Each morning they will log on to the "roll call" on the SSB radio.  This is where cruising sailors out to sea call in to give weather conditions and news updates.  For loved ones at home, we can see that they've called in each day and at least, at the time of the roll call, that they were safe.  Truman says that they are in the North Pactific region and radioed into Longbeach.  They heard other people as far as Fiji and Alaska.

Feel free to check out the roll call daily to follow their progress!

~First Mate

2 Voices, 2 Blogs

Some readers have asked me if I write this blog on my own.  Well, the Captain and I have both been writing! Sometimes we work together on one post, sometimes he writes it, sometimes I do. 

For the next 25 days or so, I'll be writing this blog all by my little matey self while my Captain is crewing a boat from Hawaii to Morro Bay!  You can follow his sail adventure with professional Captain, Lynn, and boat owner on the blog S/V Go For Broke (on our blogroll).  He left for Hawaii this morning!

Meanwhile, I will be exploring provincial life, cooking homemade tortillas, fixing up Lil' Wheels, increasing the quality and restfulness of my sleep, and juicing for vibrant health!  Stay tuned!  I think this time apart will be a spiritual experience for both the Captain and I!

~The First Mate

100th Post

100 Things We Love about Sailing and Blogging

1. The opportunity for fine craftsmanship is never-ending.
2. Ample opportunities for fun entertaining and bbq-ing aboard.
3. Learning a new sport: ocean racing, crewing on other people’s boats, etc.
4. Sailing uses wind power and natural energy, a green activity.
5. Sailing gets us outdoors and off the couch!
6. We can do it together!
7. Great photographic opportunities abound.
8. We meet new people in the local community and online community.
9. Dockmates are the spice of life!
10. Neighbor Wilson is quite the gem!
11. Teak is beautiful wood, very needy and endearing.
12. Galley cooking challenges are fun.
13. All our friends are excited to visit us and get a boat ride.
14. We’ve met new blogging friends on blogspot.
15. Our family knows what paraphernalia to buy us for the next 200 birthdays and Christmases.
16. Being on the water is calming and peaceful.
17. Dinghies are just as fun as sailboats.
18. Learning how to sail our boat, our “pig”, has been comical and satisfying.
19. Working with marine paints and varnishes is pretty intense.
20. Doing something adventurous makes us adventurous people.
21. Sailing is something to do when to surf isn’t up.
22. Learning sailing language: lines, sheets, grog, and halyard!
23. Learning knot tying. There are so many kinds of rope and knots in the nautical world!
24. Taking friends on a water tour of Morro Bay Embarcadero.
25. Buying and reusing boat stuff on craigslist. Recycle. Recycle.
26. Getting away from technology; leaving pagers and computers behind.
27. Happy Hour and ocean racing with the Morro Bay Yacht club.
28. Watching sailing movies and reading sailing books.
29. Watching the Jessica Watson and Abby Sunderland sailing sagas unfold. These young ladies rock!
30. We hear that Sailing is one of the safest sports and the least amount of injuries. Even though it feels dangerous, it is actually very safe.
31. Pennants make me smile.
32. Slapping halyard sounds, screeching seagulls.
33. Blogging has improved our writing skills.
34. It is easier to blog than to become a member of the yacht club.
35. A photography hobby has been born. I can share pictures with others without even buying a photo printer!
36. Interactions with nature, finches, seals, otters, pelicans, cormorants, etc.
37. The smell of fiberglass resin in the morning.
38. It is Simon-free activity for the most part! Ha ha, Simon! You sucker.
39. Another excuse to use power tools around water. I love the added risk of electrocution.
40. Chilling wine on a line in the ocean water.
41. Pirate fantasies. ARgh matie.
42. Travelling without cars and planes. Practicing patience. Nothing moves fast on a boat.
43. Planning future sailing trips.
44. Dreaming about retiring on a 45’ live-aboard in the Caribbean.
45. Dreaming about buying a bigger boat so we can stand up straight in the galley.
46. Blogging has made me a better story-teller.
47. Being a Captain has made me a better husband.
48. Being a First Mate has made me a better wife.
49. Blogging has taught me to be willing to be in the story, even to be unselfconscious as the main character in the story.
50. Sailing has allowed us to get in the Morro Bay game. We are engaging the community with good old fashion fun.
51. Blogging has made me feel more comfortable with my poetic voice and my artistic choices.
52. I’ve learned how to tell a story in a photograph.
53. I’ve learned how to pick the best picture out of hundreds of piss poor ones. A picture is worth a thousand words.
54. Capturing a flattering picture of a friend in a photograph is a gift to the friendship. It puts a smile on our faces and reminds us of the joy in living.
55. I imagine I have a “blog audience”. My blog readers have expectations. I imagine they have hopes to find something memorable here. And I hope to be creating a memorable story. I write the hope that I expect from myself.
56. There are no ropes on a boat, only lines. And sheets are ropes.
57. The First Mate is admittedly obsessed with deck shoes and white Capri pants.
58. The Captain is admittedly obsessed with sanding down the resin mold on the dinghy.
59. We learned that HMS = her majesty’s ship. Can’t use this one, because we don’t have any majesty in the U.S.
60. But, s/v= sailing vessel. Maybe we might use this one.
61. Yet again, s/y= sailing yacht; why do we need this abbreviation?
62. You can get cheap drinks at the Yacht club!
63. There is a $2.50 corking fee at the Yacht club if you bring in your own bottle, which is the cheapest corking fee I’ve ever heard of!
64. The First Mate still wants to eat pate with French bread and a fine Viognier on the boat, watch a sunset, and write amazing poetry. Ahh, Hemingway, I love you.
65. The Captain still wants to sail to Catalina.
66. The First Mate still doesn’t know how sea sick she could be.
67. The Captain still doesn’t know how sea sick he could be.
68. Training Wheels still has no official boat mascot, aka, cat or dog aboard.
69. “Let us imagine care of the soul, then, as an application of poetics to everyday life.” –Thomas Moore
70. Boat maintenance is just as therapeutic as weeding the garden or painting the bedroom or scrubbing the toilet.
71. Floating along in the dinghy is almost as fun as floating along in the sailboat.
72. There is floating along. And then there is being set adrift. The only difference is attitude and motivation. Just floating along is perfectly fine with us.
73. Mutiny on the Bounty is a great book! I never would have read it otherwise!
74. We are 100% satisfied with renting a slip for our boat. We’ve both decided it is money well spent. We couldn’t imagine trying to get all the work done on a mooring or pulling the boat out of the water!
75. After a whole year, the First Mate has decided she is ready for an ocean sail adventure. Watch out Seasickness, here I come!
76. Participating in the Yacht club’s events are so worth it! We’ve learned so much!
77. Otters are the house-cats of the sea; we are really their pets, we just don’t know it.
78. Captain’s secret dream #293: to have a picture of my boat on the wall at the Yacht club.
79. Few things are a picturesque as flying a colorful spinnaker!
80. When we stay on the boat overnight, our cat can’t wake us up at 3:30 in the morning.
81. By the time this list is posted we will be prospective members of the yacht club.
82. By the time this list is posted we will be installing our new boom. Or painting it.
83. The women at the yacht club are readers! Sweet soul sisters for this First Mate! I couldn’t be more blessed by this surprise!
84. There are many “firsts” like breaking my first boom! Another “First”!
85. We’ve met at least three people who have retired by age 50 and live the ‘simple life’ aboard in the Caribbean! We are so jealous! I mean, really, do you think that my retirement money/IRA/Medicare will be worth anything in 25 years?
86. If I were to be even more romantic I would learn to sing and play guitar so that I can live more of the ‘life’!
87. SPF 70 and polarized sun glasses are a godsend!
88. Bloggers write for a season in their lives, like the year of an internship or the year that they searched for optimal health and performance. When their season is over they usually stop writing. I wonder how long our blogging season will be?
89. We have reconsidered our desire for a Rottweiler; they are not very good water dogs. Hmm?
90. Cool iphone apps exist for navigation, sailing, compass, speed, etc!
91. See one, do one, teach one. It is true for almost everything!
92. Smile lines, crow’s feet, sun damage, leather necks… ah, the hazards of facing the elements!
93. We don’t have to do it, but we want to do it.
94. Blogging helps us organize our thoughts and reflections about sailing and what we can possibly improve in the future.
95. We are so blessed to be living this dream!
96. A portable Coleman camping toilet is a perfectly good option. There is no shame in that.
97. What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner. –Colette
98. If you have the means, we highly recommend getting a boat and taking up sailing!
99. If the U.S. falls into chaos, we have an exit strategy!
100. We don’t need as much as we have, and less is even more than we think.

Give a Little Piece of Yourself Away

I was watching a tribute E Hollywood Story to Michael Jackson, on the anniversary of his death, and one of the dancers from his last tour said that MJ taught them "to conserve their energy".  He said, "Don't give anything away for free." 

When I heard this it reminded me of something one of my friends said.  She said about facebook, "Everytime you get on there you give a little bit of yourself away." 

I think there is something to this.  There are things that we long to share, human being to human being.  Sharing our thoughts and feelings is a cheap way to learn from other people's mistakes.  It is a fundamental part of relationships.  But, what about powerful, famous people...getting to hear their thoughts is pricey entertainment, right?

Blogging walks the fence on this one.  It is my choice what to share.  It is also a statement of worth; ie. I think this information is valuable, therefore I will charge you money for it.  Or, I think this information is cheap, so I will give it to you for free.  It is an interesting debate, is it not?  Where do you stand?

How to follow this Blog (and others)

How to Subscribe

Subscribing to a blog means that new posts are delivered to you instead of you having to check if there there’s anything new. This page explains some of the most common ways to subscribe to this blog or most others.

There are two easy ways to stay tuned: using your web browser or using one of the web sites made for that. It’ll take you some time to get everything set up, but in the long run it saves time and effort.

Using a web browser

Many web browsers can be used to follow feeds. I personally use Safari to follow blogs. Don’t get confused by some technical terms, it’s actually really easy! Here’s links to instructions for different browsers:

• Firefox (YouTube video)
• Safari (Youtube video)
• Google Chrome (YouTube video)
• Internet Explorer

There are also programs made exactly for this, but in most cases using a web browser works just fine.

Web sites

There are web sites that can be used to track blogs. You will need to set up an account and add the blogs you want to follow. Typically, following a blog on these these sites makes it rate better there, so it’s a good way to support your favorites blogs.

My recommendation is Technorati. It’s a famous blog search engine. To follow a blog, just add it to favorites.

Writing!

So, on a personal note, we have been blogging for about 6 months now.  It is the overflow from our hearts to share our experiences.  But, we both, the Captain and I, have a fascination with writing.  Hence, the "Pimp My Novel" and "Writes in the City" on our blogroll.  We all have our projects and our side projects.  I must say that the commitment to a blog does require tenacity.  We have plowed our way through a couple blocks so far.

This post is to announce our SHEER EXCITEMENT and TEMENDOUS JOY to be attending the Cuesta College Writers' Conference this September.  We have signed up for 4 classes each.  There were 32 to choose from. 

The Captain is taking:
1. Creative Non-Fiction: One Theme, Many Voices
2. Marketing, Publishing & New Media
3. Infusing Historical Research into Your Writing
4. Getting Your First Novel Published

The First Mate is taking:
1.  Editing: An Acquisition Editor Polishes Your First Pages
2. Publishing Nonfiction: Strategies to Make it Happen
3. Spiritual Writing for Today's Marketplace
4. Personal Essay: How Deep Do We Dig?

Aren't you on the edge of your seat too?  I can't wait!!!!!

Unplugged?

One of my super, uber favorite bloggers is gone for the weekend.  Karla, blogger of Foodologie.com, is in NY and has left her faithful following high and dry.  However, I've also been looking for a weekend away from the networking grind.  I thought I would take this whole weekend offline, but, alas, I am not ready for this "spiritual experience." 

An interesting article on CNN.com caught my eye.  I would recommend reading it in its entirety! 
In this article, Nicole Bliman writes about the Sabbath Manifesto. 

The Sabbath Manifesto consists of 10 principles.

1. Avoid technology.
2. Connect with loved ones.
3. Nurture your health.
4. Get outside.
5. Avoid commerce.
6. Light candles.
7. Drink wine.
8. Eat bread.
9. Find silence.
10. Give back.

Reboot and The National Day of Unplugging specifically promote the first principle.  Even as a blogger, I really like it!  I dig it!  I get it!  Apparently, March 19th is the official Day of Unplugging.  I eagerly await March 19, 2011!  The Sabbath Manifesto promotes a weekly technology fast starting Friday nights at sunset. The seaside life lends itself to at least 5 of the 10 principles.  For that, I am grateful.  Does this mean that I can still take TGIF sunset cruise pictures and post them on Saturday after sunset?

The point of the Manifesto rings true.  I recall the No Impact Man saying, "Why don't we remember this year as the year that we lost 20 pounds without going to the gym and we became better parents?"  In his blog, he advocates the observance of an Eco-Sabbath every week.

Food for thought.  Food for thought.

I got my New Camera!!!! Let the REAL Blogging Begin!

The Nikon D3000!!!! To Jill and Karla: You've been an inspiration!

~Lauren

The Original Boat: The Strega II

This is the original boat. It has been in the same slip for 40 years. It was built in 1970 and the buyer put it in this marina where it has probably been ever since!

We bought it on August 20, 2009. It was named Strega II by the manufacturer.

The boat was never renamed or painted.....until now!

We set out to give this 25' Coronado some lovin'. Commonly called a "pig" in the yachtie world, this Coronado sailboat offers a generous berth and galley, a wide hull, and short keel. You will see the whole size of the boat when we post the pictures of the boat on the beach like a whale!

The sails where toast so Truman gave them to a local sailmaker on consignment. And we got brand new sails made! We polished and shined the original fiberglass in order to find out what the original color of the boat was. Guess what? It went from dull, oxidized white to just plain shiny eggshell!

Basically, Truman took over the electrical and mechanical and exterior overhaul. I took over the interior and teak refinishing. The bulk of the work took us 3 months of weekends to complete.

~Lauren

Why blog? What's the use?

One of my favorite friends wrote to me, "I read your blog, but I feel like a stalker."

Well, what do I do? I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, and of course, reading is optional. Sure, this is a little like having my own reality show. But, I've always decopaged, journalled, etc. I've resisted the scrap-booking craze!

Most of what we write is for our own enjoyment, but there are other things that blogging accomplishes:

• I prove that there are many happy days on a boat, not just the day you bought it and the day you sell it!



• I share with others the sincere and simple pleasures of the slow seaside life.



• I build connections and points of common interest with readers that I may have never met in person.
  
• I am accountable to our readers for the things I write and say that I am doing. The "accountable" life can push one past her comfort zone into successes that she may not have been able to achieve on her own.


• I buy a kick-ass camera and post tons of mouth-watering pictures of the boat and the water!

What's not to love?

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow!"

~Lauren